Father-son duo celebrate winning basketball state title both for Kapaun coach Steve Eck
Like most boys, Teagan Charles grew up idolizing his father.
He heard all about the 1990s basketball dynasty at Wichita South, where Tolanda Charles won three state championships as a star player.
So when Steve Eck, the architect of that powerhouse, decided to return to coach high school basketball in 2021 after a 25-year absence at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, where Teagan was enrolled as a freshman, it was a surreal experience.
“My dad told me how good of a coach he was and to always trust him,” Teagan said. “I did what he said because I always wanted to win a championship, just like my dad did.”
That dream was realized earlier this month when Teagan, now a senior, helped lead the Crusaders to a Class 5A state championship in Emporia.
And just like his father did, nearly three decades ago, he celebrated a state title in his senior year with Eck as his coach. Teagan even worse the same No. 22 jersey that his father did. Afterward, the trio took a picture together — with Teagan and Eck in Crusader blue holding the trophy and Tolanda in his 1995-96 South High championship t-shirt.
“That was such an awesome moment,” Teagan said. “It still hasn’t really sat in. For me and my dad both to win a championship under coach Eck, that’s unbelievable. They always told me that hard work pays off and we both worked hard and it paid off.”
The whole Charles family has a special connection to Eck, as Teagan’s mother, Angela, actually played high school volleyball for him during her time at South.
It’s been a special treat for the parents to watch their son play for their former coach the past three years. Tolanda has been transported back to his youth, watching many of the same principles Eck used to win six Class 6A titles in a nine-year span to turn Kapaun into a championship contender.
“His attention to detail is why I say he’s the best in the business,” Tolanda said of Eck. “He demands perfection. He was a real stickler about handing the ball to the refs and good body language and eye contact. You can tell it’s a coach Eck team by how hard they play every single possession and how they dive for loose balls and take charges. And that’s because he builds relationships and that trust with his players.”
Despite how much the game has changed, Eck said there’s not much difference between coaching high school kids in 2024 than 1988.
This was the first of his 13 high school seasons when Eck’s team didn’t win the City League title, but the Crusaders made up for that by winning him his seventh overall championship — tied for third-most by a coach in Kansas history.
“What you expect from them i what they’re going to give you,” Eck said. “But this really wasn’t about me. I got pleasure out of it, but for me, this is a material blessing. Those are nice, but I want to go to heaven, so I need spiritual blessings. But while you’re alive, it sure does feel nice.”
Playing for an old-school coach isn’t easy, Teagan said, but it is rewarding.
“There’s definitely a lot of tough love,” Teagan said. “He makes practices tough because he’s a perfectionist. So it can be tough, but in the end, he really pushed us to get better and it worked out in the end.”
Tolanda likes to tease his son about Eck’s “tough love” in today’s environment.
“Back when I played for him,” Tolanda said, “I felt like it was a lot harder.”
Eck laughed when relayed the message, one he has heard several times from his former South players from the 80s and 90s.
“That’s how all former players feel,” Eck said. “When I went back and watched my high school coach, I told him, ‘Man, you’re getting soft on these guys.’ I know I’m getting a little older, but our practices are still pretty intense.”
One thing Eck has always done as well as anybody is to earn the buy-in from his players to accept their role on the team.
Teagan was capable of scoring more this season, but he was on the same team as two of the best scorers in the state in Will Thengvall and Corbin Johnson. Instead, the 6-foot-5 versatile wing embraced his role — becoming a dogged defender who could guard on the perimeter or inside, a tenacious rebounder and a timely scorer.
“Sometimes those glue guys don’t get a lot of credit because everybody now is so focused on scoring,” Tolanda said. “But every winning team needs guys who get in there and do the dirty work and play defense and get rebounds. I’m proud of (Teagan’s) perseverance and his resilience because it’s hard for kids these days to buy into that.”
“Teagan sacrificed his game to help the team win,” Eck said. “That takes a special person to do that.”
Teagan received just honorable mention recognition from the City League coaches this season — likely because of the sacrifice he made to his individual scoring.
He said he would make that trade-off every single time.
“I know the little things go unnoticed a lot of the time, but those little things are so important to winning,” Teagan said. “We ended up getting a championship, so I would say it worked out in the end.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2024 at 5:03 AM.
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